Toledo, Spain, Apr 21, 2006 / 12:00 am (CNA).- The
archbishop of Toledo, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares, offered an analysis
this week of the first two years of the current administration in
Spain, noting his disagreement with its policies related to the family,
marriage and education, as well with a number of laws recently passed
which seek to establish a secularism in society that he says would
radically affect the human person.

The cardinal
said that his comments were not meant to offer any kind of political
assessment, but rather were in reference to human rights and ethical
principles related to the laws passed by social government. These laws,
he said, affect “the truth about marriage” in relation to divorce, the
right to life in relation to the law on assisted reproduction, and the
law on education in relation to the government’s educational reform.

Cardinal
Cañizares decried efforts to instill secularism in Spanish society that
would “radically” affect the human person. Consequently, he said
he “personally disagreed” with everything the current government has
done in these areas.

At the same
time, the Spanish cardinal encouraged greater cooperation between
Church and State, saying the State could maintain its non-sectarian
nature without falling into a secularism that “limits the faith to the
private sphere.” The Church, he said, is not trying to interfere
in State matters, but rather seeks to defend a series of principles
that are in keeping with the common good and that correspond to “human
reason and the truth about man.”

Asked about the
government’s educational reform, Cardinal Cañizares said a State-Church
committee established to ensure compliance with the accords between
Spain and the Holy See has been “absolutely ignored.”

Anniversary of Benedict XVI’s pontificate

Regarding the
first year of Pope Benedict XVI’s pontificate, the Spanish cardinal
said it has been “a year of grace from the Lord,” during which the Pope
has shown himself to be a “faithful servant” in continuing the work of
his predecessor, John Paul II. He also noted the “simplicity and
wisdom” with which Benedict has won over the masses.